Credit Suisse First Boston is poaching a team of media bankers from rival Merrill Lynch, in the latest blow to the firm’s rapidly shrinking investment bank.

CSFB has hired John Trousdale, Eric Federman and David Weil, three seasoned bankers specializing in the media industry, to help the firm bolster its media banking practice.

Trousdale, a longtime mergers adviser, most recently headed the media group at Merrill. Federman specializes in the cable and television sectors, while Weil focuses on publishing and other print media.

The three, who will join as managing directors, will report to Marc Granetz, who oversees the global media and telecom practice.

For CSFB, the move is a coup because media has been one of the few sectors on Wall Street that has remained active in the sluggish economy – and Merrill has been a significant player.

The team has worked on capital raising and advisory mandates for various media concerns including News Corp., the parent of The Post, as well as Comcast Corp., AOL Time Warner, Cablevision Systems Corp. and VNU.

For CSFB, whose media practice has gone through its own turmoil following the Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette takeover, the new hires will add senior firepower. Just last week, the group lost media star Jill Greenthal to the Blackstone Group.

Nevertheless, CSFB has landed high-profile deals – including advising GE on its exclusive merger negotiations with Vivendi. The bank also has been on the other side of the table with Vivendi, representing the French giant in its sale of Houghton Mifflin.

For Merrill, the loss of the team is a blow to its media franchise, which has already seen several high-level departures. Last year the firm lost media co-head Louis Zachary and two other managing directors to Lazard.

The defections also come at a particularly sensitive time for Merrill, which is undergoing a major overhaul of its banking division following Merrill CEO Stan O’Neal’s high-level house-cleaning last month. Since O’Neal first took the helm two years ago, he has scaled back investment banking ranks from more than 2,200 to under 900. He has also let some of the firm’s most valued senior coverage officers walk out the door.

“In the short term, Merrill will retain some financing business from house accounts because of its perennial leadership in equities. But competitors are salivating because they know a persistent absence of effective coverage at the CEO level will knock Merrill out of the running for plum advisory mandates.”